~Upstream and Down~

I stood, camera in hand, waiting my turn at a local bakery where a mouthwatering array of pastries and cakes would tempt the most ardent dieter to fall off the wagon. Fall? Make that, leap off the wagon. Happily. Diet schmiet! Colorful cartoon-character cupcakes, with candy eyes focused on elegant petits fours on dainty doilies, shared prime shelf real estate with brash Italian pastries stuffed with cream cheeses. When the counter woman asked, "May I help you?" I explained that I was a photographer and would like to take some pictures of the goodies. I expected a quick, "Sure, go ahead." But instead she looked confused, and said she'd have to ask the manager in the back room. "Ask him if I can set up a time to take some photos of someone decorating a cake, too, please." The answer was no. No, I couldn't take any photos in the shop, nor of someone decorating a cake. And no, I will not buy anything from your bakery eit...

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Sometimes it's all about knowing that loved ones and friends stand behind you, knowing that support is there on the down days, the worry days, the days when you feel off-center, out of sync, bedraggled emotionally, and in pain, but knowing all the while that you're not alone. You're not alone... Alice is an online friend--she lives in Hawaii-- who belongs to the writer's workshop that I do. We've only "met" online, but those who have online friendships know that they can be just as strong as those in-person relationships. Alice was hit by a car while walking, and is in the rehab phase of things. She's working to regain mobility after a broken pelvis, a broken arm, and a broken nose. It's scary to realize how, in the blink of an eye, life can lurch and our plans for a time are displaced by survival and healing. We...

I feel like Hester Prynne, except, instead of a scarlet A on my bosom, I have a big red X on Facebook… next to a picture of Obama. There was a "quiz," and though I seldom take quizzes I saw that other people had big green check marks showing that they had taken the quiz, so I clicked the link. Here's the question: Should President Obama be allowed to do a nationwide address to school children without parental consent? -Yes -No -I don't care Well, in a blink of an eye "without parental consent" trumped the president in my mind, and I clicked the box beside No . Then I thought, I really should find out what this is all about. I looked for the cancel button, but there wasn't one, so I returned to the Facebook page. Branded! There was a big, fat, red X next to a picture of Obama at the chalkboard on my page, like I was Xing him personally. Everybody else has pretty green check marks next to the picture on their pages. Some of us are just doomed to fail m...

Full steam ahead. It’s harvest time. And time to can and freeze as much as possible, a hot process in steamy late summer. My husband doesn’t remember that I canned peaches last year, he says, although I have the pictures to prove it--and memories of pleasant winter breakfasts of peaches on oatmeal when he--oblivious, I guess--had toast. This year, we make it a team effort. Although, to be honest, right now, I'm not playing. I’m on my laptop, and he’s peeling peaches at the sink. We have a small kitchen, poorly designed. If I get in his way in the crowded space he sighs in annoyance so… fine… peel away. Have fun. We’ve bumped elbows enough, and he is too precise for me, and I’m too loose for him. “Why don’t you do such and such?” he asks me. “Because this way works fine,” I reply. He times things. I don't. He measures. I don't. He doesn't cut corners. I do. this is an exaggeration, but you get the point. He sighs. Exasperated. “I don’t know why you insist upon doing thin...